Patrick Bryant II (born December 10, 2002) is an American professional
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
wide receiver
A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...
for the
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...
of the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
(NFL). He played
college football
College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
for the
Illinois Fighting Illini
The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the College athletics, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's Varsity team, varsity sports.
The university op ...
and was selected by the Broncos in the third round of the
2025 NFL draft
The 2025 NFL draft was the 90th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft was held at Lambeau Field and its adjacent Titletown District in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on April 24–26, 2025 ...
.
Early life
Bryant attended
Atlantic Coast High School in
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...
. During his high school career, he had 128 receptions for 2,261 receiving yards and 23
touchdowns
A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...
. He committed to the
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...
to play college football.
College career
As a true freshman at Illinois in 2021, Bryant had six receptions for 98 yards. As a sophomore in 2022, he started 11 of 12 games and recorded 34 receptions for 453 yards and two touchdowns. As a junior in 2023, he had 43 receptions for 560 yards and seven touchdowns over 12 games and nine starts. Bryant returned to Illinois as the team's number one receiver his senior year in 2024, where recorded 54 receptions for 984 yards and ten touchdowns over 12 games. In the game at Rutgers, Bryant had a 40-yard game-winning touchdown. He opted out of the
Cheez-It Citrus Bowl so he could prepare for the draft.
Professional career
Bryant was selected by the
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...
in the third round (74th overall) of the
2025 NFL draft
The 2025 NFL draft was the 90th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft was held at Lambeau Field and its adjacent Titletown District in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on April 24–26, 2025 ...
.
References
External links
*
*
Denver Broncos bioIllinois Fighting Illini bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryant, Pat
2002 births
Living people
Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida
American football wide receivers
Illinois Fighting Illini football players
Denver Broncos players